We Need Shared Experience

How to Suffer Others Enjoyably

Apr 19, 2026

I generally don’t like people.

Not you, of course.
You’re great.

But the rest of them?
Urgh, they’re reliably and consistently awful.

Not all in extreme ways (though there are some real bad folk).
Some just taxing on my good graces.
Some just ever so mildly annoying.
What, with their free will and independent thoughts and feelings.

It can get messy.

And that’s where the good stuff is.

We need each other.
And not just for necessity and survival.

We need each other to fully enjoy this life.

You may be aware that I made some music at the beginning of this year. I decided to just go for it and let my creative thoughts breathe. It was joyous.

The next natural step (if you’re delusional like me) was to make a music video.

So I called up a talented filmmaker, went for a coffee, and they in turn recruited the required cast, we rented costumes, we booked a space to film and in a day it was done.

But what a day.

There was laughter, fatigue, dancing, back pain, enduring endless playback of a song they’d never heard before, and lunch.

We will look back on a ridiculous day together.
A shared experience.
And though our angles may be different, we all saw the same things, heard the same sounds, and shared the same time.

I love making things on my own.
No schedules or opinions to consider.
It’s part efficiency, part conflict avoidance.

But experiencing things with other humans is where the good stuff is.

In this age of algorithms delivering lonely experiences solely for me, shared experiences become more precious.

Spend some time with the rest of us.

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